Ex-Murdoch executive Brooks given 7 million pounds pay-off: FT

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie leave the Old Bailey court in London September 26, 2012.
REUTERS/Neil Hall

LONDON Former newspaper executive Rebekah Brooks received a pay-off totaling more than 7 million pounds ($11.24 million) following her resignation from Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper group last year, the Financial Times said on Tuesday.

Brooks, the woman at the heart of a scandal shaking Rupert Murdoch's media empire and the British government, is awaiting trial next year on multiple charges in relation to phone-hacking by reporters at one of her papers.

The FT cites two people with knowledge of her compensation as saying the pay-off consisted of cash and pension payments as well as an allowance for legal fees and the use of a chauffeur-driven car.

Two of the people cited by the newspaper said the pay-off also included substantial claw-back clauses for her former employer, News International.

These entitle News International, the British arm of News Corporation, to recover some of the payment from Brooks in certain circumstances, according to a third person familiar with the details of her exit package.

A spokeswoman for News International declined to comment and a spokesman for Brooks could not be reached for immediate comment.

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